Chapter 7 #2
With all the effort she could muster, Hallie rolled herself over and then sat up on the sofa, looking at Sydney intently. “You’re not a mind reader, Syd. I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t ready to deal with the implications. You did nothing wrong.”
Sydney let out a huff. Then her stare grew curious, and Hallie felt like she’d been put under a magnifying glass. “Why were you asleep on your own sofa when I called?”
What a question. It was one she planned to answer, but last night was still filtering through her mind in bits and pieces. She’d come home and… “Brynn and I got really drunk last night. Well, I got really drunk,” Hallie amended. “I’m not sure how much Brynn actually had.”
She smiled, realizing that for all the uncomfortable feelings swirling around inside of her because she’d talked about her parents, she’d actually had a really good time last night. Like, more fun than she’d had in months. Maybe longer.
“You and Brynn?” Sydney repeated, like Hallie had just told her best friend that she was planning on taking a month-long camping trip.
“Yeah? We had a few drinks, did a few hexes, danced naked in the moonlight. Normal New Year’s Eve stuff,” Hallie said with a completely straight face, doing everything that she could to sell the bit.
Sydney’s mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding me.”
“About which part?” Hallie asked sincerely.
“All of it?” Sydney pressed, her perfectly sculpted eyebrows looking like they were ready to disappear into her hairline.
Hallie tapped her finger against her lips, loving the bewilderment in Sydney’s tone. “The drinks and the hexing did actually happen. You know I’d never willingly go outside in below-freezing weather.”
“You and Brynn—like Brynn Fitzpatrick, my ex-boyfriend’s ex-fiancée—tried to put a curse on someone last night?”
Hallie made a pffft sound and then corrected her. “A hex. Common misconception. A curse is much more serious than a hex in terms of severity. Brynn, thankfully, was the voice of reason on that one.”
Even though the hex had been Hallie’s idea, of course Brynn had known the difference between the two spells. And while they had both agreed between peals of laughter that neither option was likely to come to fruition, they were women with an axe to grind, not a body to bury.
Sydney was still looking at her, mouth agape. Good. Hallie liked still being able to surprise people. It didn’t happen very often these days. She honestly couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a fun story to regale Sydney with that wasn’t about a hotel guest.
“So you and Brynn put a hex on…”
Hallie beamed proudly when she answered, “Grant Devereux IV. And trust me, we were very specific on his suffix, even though Tripp Devereux was a close second contender.”
Sydney was rubbing her temple with the hand that wasn’t holding her phone up. “I’m processing. So you and Brynn are, like… friends now?”
“I mean, if we weren’t before, we definitely are now,” Hallie said, realizing that she was serious. Brynn had been exactly the breath of fresh air she’d needed. “Casting magic really bonds people.”
And even if their preposterous idea to hit the Stoneport dating circuit was going to be left exactly where it should be, which was as a drunken joke between friends, she didn’t regret the hours they’d spent painfully reviewing one another’s profiles, laughing until they’d cried.
Actually, Hallie’s stomach still hurt a little, and it made her wonder how Brynn was fairing. She’d probably had to be up by seven, and even still, she’d left Hallie coffee and meds to help ease her own wake-up call.
Hallie smiled, appreciating the care Brynn had shown her last night. This morning, too.
After a promise to Sydney that she would communicate more directly about what was going on in her life, including but not limited to her parents, hexes, The Stone’s Throw, and her general well-being, Hallie hung up the call and wandered over to the kitchen to find something to eat.
Brynn had, at some point, brought in a fruit cup, pilfered from the offerings they kept out in the breakfast area for guests who wanted a quicker meal in the mornings.
There was also a little note that said, I wasn’t sure about your dairy allergy, but I figured that this would be safe :) in neat, precise script.
Hallie plucked a strawberry, her favorite, from the cup and popped it into her mouth.
Maybe things were looking up for her after all, and a new friend was just what she needed.
Hallie learned later that afternoon that Brynn, in fact, had not been joking about their foray into the world of online dating.
It became apparent when Brynn breezed back into the apartment like a woman on a mission—very different from her own state.
Sure, Hallie had brushed her teeth, taken a shower, and put on a pair of joggers and a T-shirt, but then she’d planted herself right back on the sofa, enjoying having nothing to do at the inn today.
Brynn as a friend and as a co-worker was already paying dividends.
“I’ve got a match,” Brynn said as she sat down next to Hallie, so close that they were almost touching.
Brynn was wearing their standard Stone’s Throw uniform, black pants and a black shirt, with her hair freshly washed and tousled, like she’d just stepped off a breezy ride on a sailboat.
And so close, Hallie could pick up the soft, clean scent of whatever body wash or perfume Brynn used.
No one would have been able to tell today that she’d stayed up until who knew how late—no, really, Hallie had no idea—drinking until they’d fallen asleep on the sofa.
Hallie groaned and sank deeper into the cushions. “Did we swipe on people’s profiles, too?”
Brynn shook her head, an inscrutable look on her face that made Hallie feel briefly guilty that she couldn’t remember last night.
She wished that she could, just to know all the hilarious things Brynn must have said.
“No. We decided, in the spirit of taking this seriously, that we’d only look at profiles while we were sober. ”
Hallie squinted at the idea that she could have been serious about anything last night, but thank god for that, at least. She didn’t relish having to leave any messages unread from unsuspecting suitors.
It wasn’t their fault that she’d gotten drunk with Brynn and decided to look for love in all the wrong places.
This was a message she needed to break to Brynn, softly. “I don’t think—” But then Brynn hit her with an infuriatingly endearing pout. “Did—did you just bat your lashes at me?”
Brynn fluttered her long lashes again. “I’m not sure. Is it working?”
The craziest part was that Hallie knew, without a doubt, that Brynn was asking an honest question instead of fishing for a compliment. Which at least earned her an equally honest response in return. “It depends. What are you trying to get out of me?”
Brynn chewed on her lip. “I just… think this could be a really fun idea. Dating. Swapping stories. And…”
Hallie leaned forward, curious. “And what?”
Brynn smiled excitedly. “I did research today on modern dating mores. It’s actually really fascinating. Seems wild out there, but…”
Hallie laughed, unexpectedly charmed by Brynn’s earnestness.
Of course Brynn had researched what went into casual dating. This was the least surprising thing Hallie had heard today, and she smiled reflexively at it. She could say, without a doubt, that Brynn was one of the most interesting people she’d ever met. And it was all without Brynn even trying.
She was also one of the most blindingly trustful people Hallie had ever encountered, which did not bode well for Hallie not feeling an immense amount of guilt if she tapped out.
By saying no, she felt like she was somehow feeding a cute little fish to a piranha.
Or leading a lamb to slaughter. Or… Hallie wasn’t exactly sure, but all of her scenarios involved a sweet, big-eyed animal being thrust into the clutches of a menacing predator.
And only months ago, Brynn had unknowingly actually, well, and truly been in the clutches of one of those. Burned and misused in every way a person could betray someone they professed to love. By a man who had asked her to marry him, no less!
And still, she was willing to put herself out there again.
Maybe it was for Brynn to quell the sting of her last few months—which Hallie could not understand at all; she really preferred to lie down and play possum when things got tough—but it didn’t change the fact that Brynn was still willing to buck up and get back in the saddle.
Or get in the saddle for the first time, seeing as Brynn had been most recently riding around on a donkey and not a horse.
Hallie grimaced. She’d taken that metaphor way too far in her head.
Focusing on Brynn, who’d stopped batting her lashes and was now looking at Hallie like she held her future in her hands, Hallie cocked her head to the side and wondered why she was so opposed to pushing forward their wacky plan.
She’d been telling Sydney that she needed a change, which, if she was being honest with herself, wasn’t going to be by leaving The Stone’s Throw anytime soon.
And she wasn’t exactly down to troll The Lobster Trap for casual company.
On top of it all, it would be far better to lament what would likely be a terrible idea with someone else making equally terrible decisions instead of the lovey-dovey, newly engaged couple at Cape Canoodle.
Really. What did she have to lose?
She took the tiniest, emotional-growth-fueled step forward when she leaned toward Brynn and blew out a tentative breath. “Who do we have on the chopping block?”
The wattage of Brynn’s smile could only be described as blinding. “There’s actually more than one,” she said, snuggling down to Hallie’s position and holding her phone up in front of them. “I just didn’t want to overwhelm you.”